I'd like to see "Project Frankenstein"....A cheap,nasty bastard that's fast and unique....

So many magazines feature cars that people have over $100,000 invested in. A lot of them are great looking, and great performers. But I'd like to see something that someone built for $10,000 including the purchase price of the car. Something that someone built with literally stuff they had laying around or bought from or were given by a friend.  And something not mainstream-maybe a beater '78 Camaro with a 425 Olds engine in it? Or an '81 Gran Prix with a 472 Cadillac V8 in it.  A '76 Nova with a 430 Buick in it, a 75 Chevy 2WD pickup with a 400 Pontiac in it, an AMC Hornet with a 383 Mopar in it, Stuff like that. Or later stuff people made from wrecks or junkyard parts- an '85 Firebird with the engine and trans out of a GMC Cyclone / Typhoon-that Turbo V6 would rock in a light F-body. How about the Supercharged 3.8 V6 from a Riviera of Bonneville SSEI in a Buick Reatta body? Or in the rear of a Pontiac Fiero? ( I've actually seen that done-an absolute rocket! ) Just a thought. Anyone else have any ideas along these lines? Mastermind    

A "Smog Dog" that can be a tiger with a little work.....

Had a couple inquiries from people wanting to possibly do Ford projects. One guy wanted to do a '74-76 Torino in "Starsky and Hutch" style, and the other guy wanted to do a 71-72 LTD in "White Lightning" style. Both of them had been told that if they wanted real power they'd have to swap in a 460. ( I love the "experts" that give advice like this who have never worked as a mechanic or owned or built a race car or project of any kind, but give other people advice on how to spend their money ). Not true. I told them-as I've said in earlier posts-the 400C used from 1971 on and the 351 / 400M used from 1975-82 can make plenty of power with very little work. If you read the "Engine Masters Challenge" every year there's always someone with a 400 Ford making over 500 hp. If you think about it-regardless of brand name anything 400 cubes should make decent power and torque. Anyhow-the reason they got a reputation as "dogs" in the '70's was threefold. They were only available with two-barrel carburation,single exhaust and a lazy cam. And fourth they usually had salt-flats gearing like 2.80:1 or 3.00:1. An Edelbrock Performer intake and matching Carb and a set of headers ( or even just adding a good dual exhaust sytem behind the stock manifolds ) will REALLY wake up one of these engines like you won't believe. You'll think you dropped in a 460 with just these two simple mods. Why? It's all about airflow. Now it's breathing like it should. A 400 V8 with a 2bbl carb and single exhaust is like a 250 lb man trying to run while breathing through a straw! The other big things that are easy is an axle-ratio change. Swapping the 2.80:1 gears for something in the 3.23:1-3.73:1 range will cut your 0-60 and 1/4 mile time by 1/2 a second and not hurt drivability too much. The other thing would be putting a shift improver kit in the trans. B&M and TransGo both offer excellent shift kits that will give automatic kick down to low gear under 15 mph and much firmer full-throttle shifts. These simple mods will give your "Gator" or "Starsky" car or "Muscle Truck" more than enough oomph to do smoky burnouts and back up the image. If you want to go faster than that-Edelbrock and Trick Flow offer performance aluminum heads for these engines and Edelbrock,Crane,Lunati and Competition Cams all offer cam kits from mild to wild. So if you have or want to buy a Torino, Montego, Cougar, Ranchero or F150 or Bronco that has one of these engines-no you don't need to spend megabucks swapping in a 460. You can make plenty of hp and torque with very little investment. A friend of mine had a Bronco and he was blown away by the improvement in performance simply by adding headers and the Performer Carb and intake. It had way more power and got better gas mileage even pulling his boat! So trust me....Not some yahoo working at Wal-Mart....Mastermind  

A few AMC's I'd like to build.....

American Motors made a big splash when they lured Trans-Am Champion driver Mark Donohue and team owner Roger Penske away from Chevrolet. I always thought Donohue's Red,White and Blue '71 Javelin AMX was a badass looking car. I'd like to find a '71-74 Javelin and do it up in Trans-Am style-Minilite Wheels,side-exit exhaust,etc. Like I said in an earlier post-even if I got a 304 version-360s are plentiful in junkyards since they were used in Jeep Grand Wagoneers until 1992. Edelbrock offers performance aluminum heads, cams and intakes for these engines. Maybe swap in a Richmond 5-speed, and some Recaro seats-you'd have a unique and cool hot rod. Another one that would be cool is a '74-76 Matador done in Nascar style-like Popular Hot Rodding's "Project Talledega" Chevelle Laguna. Buddy Baker won a few races for AMC in a Matador in the mid-70s. The muscular, fastback body would look mean with radiused fenderwells, fat tires and Nascar-style graphics. The final one that would be cool would be a '71-77 Gremlin. A friend of mine had a Gremlin "X" in high school. Him and his dad pulled the 304 and swapped in a 401 out of wrecked Ambassador police car. He showed his taillights to many a shocked Camaro and Mustang driver! Their light-about 2,700 lbs-and the short wheelbase actually makes them a good drag racer. A 360 Gremlin could really rock for low bucks. Maybe I'll start scouring the want ads....Mastermind    

Some "Rodney Dangerfields" that didn't make the list....And Why....

Comedian Rodney Dangerfield always joked that he got "No Respect". That's why I called some of the overlooked engines in the last posts "Rodney Dangerfields". However-as I pointed out-these engines can make plenty of power and torque for low bucks. Like I said,maybe not as much as a GMPP 572 inch Rat or Mopar Performance 505 Wedge or Ford SVT 514 or in the case of the small-blocks not as much as-an Edelbrock or GMPP 383 or Ford SVT 427-but enough to get the average Joe 12 second et's in a still pretty streetable package for relatively low bucks. I had other people suggest other engines that I overlooked but they were specifically kept off the list for one of two reasons-either they are obsolete and parts are non-existant or very hard to find and expensive, or there is a "sister" engine that is much more widely available and has good parts availability and makes way more power for the same or less dollar investment. # 1. This is a perfect example. 1968-73 307, 1977-95 305 Chevy V8. People asked why I overlooked the 305s and 307s when I espoused the virtues of the 283. Here's why-the 283 can be safely bored to 301 inches-with a 4 inch bore and a 3 inch stroke that's exatcly the dimensions of the original Z/28 302. Chevy engineers did basically the same thing-they put a 283 crank in a 327 block. Like I said a 301 Chevy can be a high-winding rocket. The small-journal bottom-end will stay together till 7,500-8,000 rpm easily and big-port "2.02" factory or aftermarket heads will fit. SCCA Trans-Am racers were getting 485 hp from 302 inches with in 1968-with off-the-shelf Chevy parts!  Even 40+ years later you can't make anywhere near that power level with a 305 /307. Here's why-mainly they are both a small-bore / long stroke design. This was done to make an "economy" motor designed to get good gas mileage with a 2bbl carb and still have enough low-end torque to pull a station wagon or 1/2 ton pickup around. However-this caused two problems for people looking for high-performance-the small-bore design doesn't allow you to use the big "2.02" or even 2.05 / 2.08 intake valves of  most factory and aftermarket iron or aluminum heads. The valves will hit the block. Without the big-port heads the engine can't breathe good enough to generate any serious power. And the long-stroke bottom end doesn't hold up well past 5,500 rpm. And lastly-350s are the proverbial dime a dozen and make WAY more power either stock or modified. The only thing a 305 or 307 is good for is if it's already in the car and running, and you want to drive the car while your building another engine. # 2. 352 Ford V8. While these belong to the same family-the "FE" series-of the 390 / 427 / 428-there pretty useless. The reason is-while their big and heavy-there only 352 cubes. Since 390s were used in zillions of Ford cars and trucks from 1963-76-and can be bored and stroked to 447 inches-I'd just get a 390. Or a 351W can make way more power for less money. Also avoid the 360 V8 that was offered in Ford trucks in the mid-70's. They used a 390 crank in a small-bore block and had the double attributes of no power and crappy gas mileage. Unless your restoring a 1960 Ford Starliner to the nth degree I'd forget the 352 and just get a 390. # 3. 326 / 350 Pontiac V8. These have the same problem as the 305 / 307 Chevys. They are a small-bore / long stroke design which gives them decent low-end torque, but the big-port / big valve heads used on the larger 389 / 400 / 421 / 428 / 455 engines don't fit-the valves hit the block. Some people talk about notching the cylinder bores for clearance but why would you spend a ton of money on custom machine work that may not work anyway-how are the head gaskets going to seal with a big gash cut into the cylinders?-and all other things being equal a 350 is not going to make anywhere near the power a 400 will and a 400 costs no more to buy or build. # 4. 361 Chrysler. These are a "B" engine just like a 383 / 400. However-like the 352 Ford-their big and heavy, and there only 361 cubes. An "LA" or "Magnum" 360 small-block is much lighter and makes way more power for less money for the street rod crowd. And for musclecar guys since the 383 /400s are so plentiful-and make substantially more power even stock-it just doesn't make sense to use a 361. # 5. 394 Olds V8. These are big and heavy,there's virtually no parts availability-and because 1965 and later engines use a different deck height and bank angle-NOTHING interchanges with the later 400 / 425 / 455 engines. Edelbrock makes Aluminum heads and Pefromer, Performer RPM and Torker intakes and cams for the later engines-but none of that stuff will work on a 394. Unless your restoring an early '60's 88 to the nth degree-you'd be better off with the later big blocks or even a 350 / 403 in your Olds project.  # 6. 300 / 327 / 340 Buick V8. Same deal here-there is zero aftermarket support and nothing interchanges with the '68-77 350. If you have an early Skylark with one of these and want a big performance infusion and keep the car all Buick the best way is find a '68-77 350 and swap that in and swap the two-speed ST300 for a TH350-they are the exact same length and use the same rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke. If you need SERIOUS power and want to stay all Buick-( no 350 / 403 Olds or big-block Chevy or Pontiac transplants ) then you'll need a 400 / 430 / 455 out of a big car.  Anyhow-hope this helps everyone out-some overlooked engines are "Diamonds in the Rough" and others are only useful as boat anchors. Mastermind           

More "Rodney Dangerfields" that can make good power.....

In the last post I talked about some "forgotten" engines that could make big power for low bucks. I had a few people bring some others to my attention that I overlooked. Here's that list. # 1. 289 Ford. These were used in just about every compact and mid-size Ford or Mercury from 1963-68. In a light car like a Falcon / Comet or Mustang / Cougar / Fairlane these can be fun. They don't have much torque but with the right cam, intake and stiff gears they love to rev. There is a ton of speed equipment available for these engines-almost as much as for a small-block Chevy.  I'd recommend a 4-speed and at least 3.90:1 or 4.11:1 gears. If you want to run an automatic I'd recommend a C4 with a 3,000 rpm converter and 4.11:1 gears. If their set up right these engines can handle 7,500-8,000 rpm easily. I've known some guys with early Falcons or Mustangs that were wicked fast with 289s. The 302 used from 1968-1997 is much more plentiful, and Ford SVT sells 302 crate engines to this day. However-if the car you have or want to buy has a 289 in it I would by all means use it. And although the Small-Block Chevy is a more popular swap-a lot of guys put 289s into Austin-Healeys to create a "poor man's Cobra". # 2. 400 / 425 Olds V8. Everyone wants the 455s but anything that fits a 455 will fit the 1965-69 400 and the '65-67 425. Edelbrock makes aluminum heads and Performance intakes for these engines and companies like Crane, Lunati and Comp Cams make cams and valvetrain gear. Hooker, Hedman and other companies make headers. These can make just as much power as a 455 with the right combination. I wouldn't search the galaxy looking for one, but if the car you have or want to buy has a 400 or 425 in it I would definitely use it rather than spending a few extra grand trying to chase down a 455. # 3. 400 / 430 Buick V8. Just like their Olds cousins Buick guys fight with machetes over 455s but largely overlook these engines. Anything with 400 or 430 cubes is going to run pretty damn good even bone-stock. However-Edelbrock offers heads and intakes that fit these engines as well as the 455s and Lunati and Comp Cams offer cams. I give the same advice here as I did to the Olds guys-If you have one in your car or a car you are buying, or can buy one cheap I would definitely use it. but I wouldn't search the galaxy for one.  # 4. 360 AMC V8. While 390s and 401s are scarce and priced accordingly-there are millions of these in junkyards that were used in Jeep Grand Waggoneers until 1992. Edelbrock offers aluminum heads and intakes and other companies offer cams, headers etc. Since AMC engines are externally identical ( like Pontiacs ) this is a bolt-in swap to replace a 304. At the engine masters challenge a guy with a 360 AMC made over 500 hp. Impressive.  # 5. 403 Olds V8. Even though these were only built from 1977-79, they were used in millions of Buick Rivieras and LeSabres,Pontiac Bonnevilles, Olds 88s and 98s, all the big BOP wagons and hundreds of thousands of Formula and Trans-Am Firebirds. Anything that fits a 350 will fit these engines. This makes them a bolt-in swap for a 330 / 350 in an early Cutlass, or a 307 in a later "G" body. Edelbrock claims 397 hp and 400 lbs of torque from their Performer RPM package on a 350. With 53 extra cubes you'd easily be well over 400 hp. Magazine writers spout numbers flippantly but 400 honest hp will make any street car into an absolute rocket.  Mastermind    

Some "Rodney Dangerfields" that could make big power...

There's been a "Bigger is better" movement in Hot Rodding the last several years-witness GM, Ford and Chrysler all selling mega hp 500+ inch crate engines. Aftermarket companies like Edelbrock,ATK and Blueprint engines all sell monster motors as well as stroker kits to make a 350 Chevy into a 383, a 360 Mopar into a 408,a 351 Ford into a 427, etc, etc. These are all good investments that offer great performance-If you can afford them. But not everyone can afford 10 or 15 grand for a custom crate motor. But don't despair-there are a lot of "forgotten" engines that can still make big power for low bucks. Here's the list that offers the most "Bang" for the buck. # 1. Small-Block Chevy. Whenever someone says "Small Block Chevy" everyone automatically thinks "350". However-from 1958-67 the 283 V8 was available in just about every Chevrolet model. Ditto for the 327 from 1962-69. My cousin had a 283 powered '63 Nova that was wicked fast. Most '58 and later 283 blocks can be overbored to 301 inches. In a light car like a Nova or '64-67 Malibu these can really rock-especially with a stick and stiff gears ( 4.11 or 4.56:1 ) and a solid-lifter cam-they can rev to 7,500 easily if you have the valvetrain. In heavier cars like Chevelles, El Caminos,Camaros etc-a 327 can really rock. They can make just as much power as a 350-but at higher rpm. Because of the extra cubes they'll have more torque than a 301 but you'll still need a 4-speed and 3.73:1 or stiffer gears or if you want to run an automatic you'll need a 2,500 -3,000 rpm converter and 3.73:1 or stiffer gears. With the right cam,carb and intake-a 327 can make big power from 2,000-7,200 rpm and stay together. I've seen guys run them 8 grand-but your just beating up the valvesprings and bottom-end-they don't make any more power above 7-especially with stock type heads. In a car under 3,600 lbs-these can be a fun alternative to the cookie-cutter 383s that are in everything. And GMPP and Eagle offer 3.00 or 3.25 inch cranks and rotating assemblys so you could build a 301 or a 327 from a 350 block if you wanted to-and it may be cheaper than trying to find an old one.  # 2. 389 Pontiac. In every buff magazine-"THE" setup for a Pontiac is a cut-down 455 crank in a 400 block to get 461 or 467 cubes. However the 389 was standard equipment in just about every Pontiac model from 1959-66. If you have one or can buy one cheap they can really rip with the right equipment. Especially in a light car like an early Tempest or Firebird or Ventura. All you have to do is accentuate what Pontiac did from the factory-make big power and torque at low rpm. When you've got 430 lbs of torque at 2,800 rpm-you don't need to rev to 7 grand. If you can find a tri-power setup and want to use it-great. Otherwise an Edelbrock P4B or Performer Intake and 750 carb will work great. If you want dual-quads the Edelbrock P65 and two 600 carbs work and look great.  If you have a 4-speed and 3.55:1 or stiffer gears you can use the factory RAIV / Edelbrock Performer RPM cam. It will have badass lope and still have 10 inches of vacuum at 900 rpm, and pull like a rocket to about 5,800. If you have an automatic I'd use a 2,500 rpm converter and 3.90:1 or stiffer gears or I'd use the milder RAIII cam with an auto and 3.23:1-3.73:1s. ( Lunati has the best version ). Edelbrock offers D-Port aluminum heads that will fit these engines and Eagle makes crank kits that turn one into a 421 if you so desire. The 400s that were used from '67-79 are much more plentiful and have better breathing heads stock-so if you have or can get a 400 cheap do it. But if the car you have or are buying has a 389 or someone wil sell you one cheap-they can really run with the right combination. # 3. 390 Ford. These were used in millions of Ford cars and trucks from 1963-76. There is still great aftermarket support-Edelbrock claims 452 hp and 428 lbs of torque from the Performer RPM package. Since "FE" engines look externally identical-you could build a Cobra replica or Thunderbolt clone and no one would know it's not a 427. Ditto for building a 428CJ Mustang or Cougar clone-no one but you would know it's a 390. # 4. 383 / 400 Mopar. The 383 was used from 1963-71, and the 400 ( which is just a bored-out 383 ) was used from 1972-78. There is great aftermarket support-aluminum heads, cams etc. A 383 can run just as strong as a 440-just at higher rpm. A guy I know has a 383 Duster that runs 10s.  Any of these forgotten warriors can really rip with the right combination and be built cheaply,and be unique. Mastermind        

How about Project "Cheap Shot": Grocery Getter into Dragstrip Terror...

Maybe we can get one of the buff mags to serialize the build and do some drag testing. I had an Idea the other day for a cool project. Take a '60's or '70's compact or mid-size sedan and turn it into a killer street / strip machine for very low bucks using mostly junkyard parts. Here's the candidates I thought of. They might not be sexy, but their cheap and could be wicked fast with not too much work. # 1. Fords. I thought of three cars here. If you can find one a 1962-69 Falcon / Comet is light, a lot of them had 289s under the hood, and their short wheelbase makes them good drag racers. And a lot of suspension and brake upgrades that fit early Mustangs fit these. # 2. 1970-77 Maverick / Comet. These are lightweight and a lot of them have 302s under the hood. A buddy of mines 440 Road Runner got it's doors blown off by a hotted-up Maverick. "Dyno" Don Nicholson had great success in Pro Stock in the early '70's with one. # 3. 1975-79 Granada / Monarch. They may be ugly, but a lot of them had 302s or 351Ws under the hood and some even had limited slip disc-braked 9" rear ends stock. Their rep as dogs came from 2bbl carburation and salt-flats gearing. With a warmed over 351W and some 4.11 gears one of these could really rock. # 4. GM Obviously the 1968-79 Nova is a choice as any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Camaro / Firebird fit these cars, and the engine bay will accept any small or big-block. Other X-bodies include the '71-77 Pontiac Ventura and the '73-79 Olds Omega. One of these with a 400 Pontiac or 403 Olds would be cool. Since they weigh 600 lbs less than a late '70's Firebird they make a good hot rod. I had a '71 Ventura with the 400 out of my wrecked '77 T/A and it was a great sleeper. # 5. '69-76 Pontiac Gran Prix. While most '70-77 Monte Carlos of this vintage are small-block powered, GP's had 400 cubes standard all years, and a fair number of '70-76 "SJ" models had 455s. Any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Chevelle fit these cars so there's tons of potential. # 6. Mopar. 1968-76 Dodge Dart / Plymouth Duster. These cars are cheap and light so even 318 versions can run. However a 360 is a bolt-in,and Mopar Performance sells the crossmember to install B / RB engines-i.e.-383 / 400 / 440s. What I'd really like to see with these cars is manual transmissions and multi-carb setups. How cool would a 360 Dart with a Six-Pack setup and a 3-speed manual be?  Or a Maverick with dual-quads on a thumpin' 302, or 3-2bbls on a Small-block Chevy in a Nova with a 3-speed stick, or two 4bbls on a 455 Pontiac. The bodies could be done in '60's "Gasser" style-removed front bumpers,radiused rear wheelwells, Old school charm, but wicked fast. Write to the buff mags and suggest they coordinate with me-maybe we can get it done. Mastermind  

"Old School" parts can really rock....And be "Period Correct"....

I've said many times that I'm not one of those fussy Concours / Just as it Left the Factory types who point out that someone has the wrong kind of hose clamps or who thinks a '69 Mustang Mach 1 is "ruined" because it has a Hurst shifter ( instead of the awful factory unit ) halogen headlights, an Edelbrock or Holley carb ( in place of the god-awful Autolite 4300 ) and radial tires. A '69 Camaro with Cragar S/S mags,Lakewood Traction bars, headers,an Edelbrock Tarantula manifold and a 650 Holley is just as "Right" now as it was in say-1972. A '69 Camaro with a Fuel-Injected LS3,a 4L80E, a DSE front subframe and rack&pinion steering, and 20 inch Center Lines is so wrong on so many levels that I'll just leave it at that. The point I'm trying to make is you can "Restify" your classic musclecar so it has greatly increased performance and handling while still retaining the period correct classic look and feel that makes them so attractive in the first place. And you don't always need the "latest and greatest" thing. So many people read magazine tech articles-but don't really READ them-and then go spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on parts that are totally wrong for their car and how they use it. Here's several examples. A while back Car Craft tested a bunch of dual plane and single-plane intake manifolds both factory and aftermarket to see which made the most power. A Small-block Chevy was the test mule. They decided that the Dart and the Keith Dorton single-planes made the most power and torque. However-the test mule was an 11:1 406 inch race motor with 230cc intake port Aluminum Dart Heads, and a .630 lift solid roller cam!! The Dart / Dorton intakes are designed for NASCAR and Drag Racing-they make huge power from 4,000-8,000 rpm!!  Now if "Joe Average" buys that intake and an 850 Double-Pumper Holley and puts it on his 9:1 350 that has stock 165cc heads and a cam with say .450-.475 lift-it's going to absolutely kill the bottom-end and mid-range torque. He'd be far better off with a GM, Edelbrock, or Weiand dual-plane intake and an Edelbrock or Holley vacuum-secondary 600 cfm carb-especially if he had an automatic transmission. If he had a stick and stiff gears and wanted the top-end boost of a single-plane-an Edelbrock Torker II or Weiand X-celrator or Team G would give him a nice hp and torque boost from 3,500-6,000 rpm and probably drop his 1/4 mile time by as much as 1/2 a second. Here's why-if he shifts at 6,000 rpm he's going to hit the next gear at 4,400 rpm-right in the thick of the manifold's power and torque band. So it'll help his 0-60 and 1/4 mile time-even though the dual-plane may actually make the same or more power and torque in a wider powerband-"under the curve" on the dyno. But the Dart / Dorton setup would slow the car down substantially even compared to a stock 4bbl intake. It's just too big for a street application. Hot Rod did the same thing with a header test. Their test mule was a Big-Block Chevy. They decreed that the Hooker Headers with 2 1/2 inch primary tubes were the big power makers. However-again-the test mule was a 540 inch 12:1 compression stroker with Huge Rectanular Port Edelbrock Victor heads and a .714 lift solid-roller cam!!  Again-"Joe Average" with a 396 or even a 427 'Vette or 454 Chevelle with even a .550 lift cam would be much better off with 1 3/4 or 1 7/8 inch primary tubes!! First off-it's a documented fact that the big rectangular port heads don't show a noticable gain in hp or torque on the dyno until 6,300 rpm!  Now how often are you going to be above 6,300 rpm in your street / strip machine???  Secondly the huge primary tubes would over-scavenge the engine and kill the bottom-end and mid-range torque. There has to be some restriction to create flow velocity in the combution chamber. So just because this was the hot setup on their 540 inch, 700 hp race motor-doesn't mean it would work at all on your 400 hp street engine! In fact-the opposite-it would hurt the performance greatly over even stock exhaust manifolds. The main thing is coordinate the whole package and be honest about the use. For example-Edelbrock still sells the original Torker for Ford 351C engines. If a guy had a '70 Mach 1 with an 11:1 351C, a 4-speed and 3.91:1 gears-the Torker would give him a huge top-end boost and drop his 1/4 mile time substantially. If a guy put the Torker on a '73 Mach 1 with a 7.9:1 351C, an automatic, and 3.00:1 gears-it would absolutely kill it. See what I'm saying?  If your a Pontiac guy and you stuff a Ram Air IV cam into your 10.75:1 compression 400, 4-speed, 3.55:1 geared '68 GTO-it will really rip on the street or strip and have a badass lope, but stable idle. If you put an RAIV cam into your 8.0:1 compression, automatic,2.56:1 geared '77 T/A-it won't hardly run at all-it'll have no low-end torque and not much top-end because of the salt-flats gearing,low compression and restrictive intake and exhaust. You can be period-correct and really rock if you choose parts wisely. For example-let's say you have a 'Vette or an Impala SS with a 390 hp 427-iron intake, Q-Jet carb, lazy cam and you want more ooommph, but don't want to go to aluminum heads and a bunch of aftermarket stuff. You don't have to. GM Performance Parts still sells the original L78 / L88 396 / 427 aluminum high-rise intake. A lot of people don't know it-but this intake is equal to or better than many aftermaket ones up to about 5,800 rpm. With a vacuum-secondary Edelbrock or Holley carb it would be awesome on the street. It's even 15 hp and 25-30 lbs ft of torque better than the LS6 454 intake-because the LS6 was supposed to be offered in the Camaro and Nova as well as the Chevelle and the taller '66-69 manifold wouldn't clear the flat hood of the new for '70 Camaro. So the LS6 intake is so flat that the fuel actually has to flow UPHILL to the head ports. Many Stock-class LS6 racers switched to the '69 style intake for that reason. Crane and Lunati offer exact replicas of the factory performance cams. If you wanted to build an L88 spec Rat Motor-World Products and Merlin offer the big Rectangular-Port Iron heads. I'd much rather see a '66 Mustang with a solid-lifter 289 topped by an Edelbrock F28 dual-quad intake and two 500 cfm Carter AFBs than I would one with a SVT 302 crate engine with aluminum GT40 heads and a Peformer RPM "5.0" fuelie intake!!  I'd rather see a '71 Cuda 340 with an Edelbrock LD340 intake and 750 Holley on it or a Six-Pack setup than I would a 6.4 liter SRT8 Fuel-Injected Hemi!!  Right? If you run across an orignal Torker for a big-block Chevy where the carb sits at an angle,or a Tri-Power setup for an Olds 400, or Pontiac 389 or Ford "FE", engine or a dual-quad intake for a 413 / 440 Mopar or 396 / 427 Chevy or 389 / 421 Pontiac- or a Paxton Superhcrager for small-block Fords-by all means use it-you'll love the look,sound and feel in the seat of your pants.  Like Arnold said in the last "Terminator" movie-"Old, not obsolete".  Mastermind                  

"Stock" should mean "Stock"...Not heavily modified.....

"There's nothing stock about a stock car".  Robert Duvall's Harry Hogge uttered this immortal line to Rookie driver Cole Trickle ( Tom Cruise ) in the NASCAR classic "Days of Thunder". Truer word were never spoken. I had an argument with a guy the other day who was quoting the blistering 1/4 mile times laid down by participants in the Pure Stock Drags. Some of these cars were running a full 2 seconds faster than magazine road tests back in the day when the cars were new. "Of course those cars are going to go way faster" I said. "Their heavily modified." "Then how come they call it the "Pure Stock" drags?" he sneered. "Call it anything you want" "Those cars are far from "Pure Stock". I said. "Here's why". The rulebook is based heavily on the NHRA Stock and Super Stock class rules, which allow quite a bit of leeway. For example-one of the stronger Pontiacs that was running in the mid 11s is a picture-perfect sample of building a car to the LETTER of the rules. This was a 1970 RAIV Firebird. The RAIV had 10.75:1 compression, special round-port heads and exhaust manifolds,a hot cam and an aluminum intake and was grossly under-rated at 345 hp. ( 370 in the GTO-F-Bodies had a more restrictive exhaust system ) All that stuff only adds up to 15 hp over the base model? Right.  Anyhow-here's the list of definitely "non-stock" features on this car. Engines have to be within 15 inches of their original size. Since a 400 Pontiac is actually 401 cubic inches this car was 416. This was accomplished with a .030 overbore and using a crank with a 3.79 inch stroke instead of the stock 3.75. The builder also used 6.800 inch connecting rods and special pistons instead of the stock 6.675. ( NASCAR engine builders know longer rods give an engine more torque. This is why Nextel cup Small-Block Chevy engines run 6 inch rods when stock size is 5.7 ) The rulebook said that combustion chamber volume had to be at least 62cc. Stock RAIV heads have 72cc chambers. By milling the heads to get the 62cc chamber size this raises compression from 10.75:1 to over 12:1. Rules on camshafts say the cam has to be the original "type". In other words if a car came from the factory with a hydraulic cam then you have to run a hydraulic cam-you can't switch to a solid lifter cam. If the car came stock with a solid-lifter cam then you can run a solid-lifter cam, but you can't switch to a roller. However-there's no limitation on duration or lift. A stock RAIV has a cam with 308 / 320 advertised duration ( 231 / 240 @ .050 ) and .520 lift when used with 1.65:1 rockers. This Firebird was running a cam with 253 duration @ .050 and .632 lift with 1.65:1 rockers. The intake had to be a stock "type"-but the only limit on spacers was the hood coudln't be modified. So this guys NPD Repro RAIV / 455HO aluminum intake was port matched to the gasket and was running a two inch spacer. The carb had to be the original "Type" meaning a Q-jet-but this was a custom one that flowed 1000 cfm. The tranny was a TH400 with a 4,800 rpm converter and the guy was running 5.14:1 gears. ( You can run any axle ratio you want as long as the rear end is the stock "Type"-in this case an 8.5 inch 10 bolt ) Now you can see how this car with a stroker crank, longer connecting rods, 12:1 compression, a cam with .632 lift, a 4,800 rpm converter and 5.14:1 gears-could run mid 11s when a true stocker with 10.75 compression, stock bottom end, a cam with .520 lift, a 2,500 rpm converter and 3.90:1 gears could only run mid-13s!  This isn't an isolated example. The grand champion-an L88 Corvette that ran a blistering 11.43 and was almost disqualified-most tracks require anything quicker than 11.50 to have an 8-point roll cage and a driveshaft safety loop-had 13.5:1 compression-( up substantially from the stock 12:1 ) a cam with nearly .700 lift, a custom 850 Holley that flowed 1000 cfm, a 4,300 rpm converter and 4.88:1 gears. The fastest Ford was a '69 Mach 1 Mustang that had a 443 inch "FE" ( within 15 inches of 428 ) which was accomplished by boring out a 390 truck block,using a stroker crank, longer rods and custom pistons, a hot Lunati cam, a custom 735 Holley that flowed nearly 900 cfm, a C6 with a 3,800 rpm converter and 4.56:1 gears.  So these cars may have iron exhaust manifolds-but they are far from "Stock". Which is why their usually 2 full seconds quicker than any magazine road test you might read of your favorites. The cars wouldn't be nearly as fast but if you limited them to truly stock parts-i.e.-the exact duration and lift on the cams,stock compression ratios,stock drivtetrain parts-no musclecar I know of ever came from the factory with a 4,800 rpm converter and 5.14:1 gears-you'd have better racing and the times would be more indicative of what a truly "Pure Stock" car could achieve with an experienced driver. Anyhow before you start spewing about a "Stock" car make sure it's actually "Stock". Mastermind    

More on cross-breeding or "Running What You Brung".....

Largely because of emission laws back in the late '70's GM started playing musical engines. Since some engines couldn't pass EPA High-Altitude or California emissions standards they started stuffing any certified engine they had into any body. For example in 1977-79 it was possible to get a Pontiac Firebird with a 231 Buick V6, a 301 Pontiac V8,a 305 Chevy V8,a 350 Chevy V8, a 350 Pontiac V8,a 350 Olds V8, and a 350 Buick V8,a 400 Pontiac V8 and a 403 Olds V8 depending on which model-                                         ( base,Esprit,Formula,Trans-Am ) and what part of the country you lived in. This continued for different models through the '80's. You could also get a Buick Regal with a 301 Pontiac, an Olds Cutlass with a 305 Chevy,a Pontiac Gran Prix with a 305 Chevy, a Buick Regal with a 307 Olds V8, and in 1980-81-if you didn't want the awful 301 Turbo-you got a 305 Chevy in a Pontiac Trans-am. This caused big changes in NASCAR. In 1980 Richard Petty switched from Dodge to GM, mainly because his iconic '74 Charger that had won dozens of races over the years would be outlawed for the 1980 season. NASCAR rules said that bodies could only be 5 years old-thus '79 was the last year the mighty Charger was legal. Petty and crew figured out that the slope-nosed,fastback '77 Cutlass was much more aerodynamic than the flat-nose, notchback rear windowed Monte Carlos that a lot other teams were running. They could go faster with the same amount of power. They won several races in dominant fashion. The other teams protested-saying the car was illegal because it was running the Ubuiqitous Small-Block Chevy Race engine-they said it should have a 350 Olds engine-which obviously would not have been as comptetive. Petty pointed out that GM was playing musical engines with production cars-that it was possible to buy a Cutlass off the showroom floor with a Chevrolet engine under the hood, or a Buick with a Pontiac engine, or a Monte Carlo with a Buick V6.  NASCAR sided with Petty-saying that since GM was doing it with production cars it would be legal to run any GM engine in any GM body. The other teams quickly switched to Cutlasses to keep up. Anyhow-the point I'm making is-if you have or want to buy for example-an '81 Trans-Am or an '84 Gran Prix with a 305 Chevy in it and want to go real fast-it's much easier and cheaper to swap in a strong 350 or 383 Chevy than it would be to try to convert it back to "real" Pontiac power. If you have an '81-87 Buick Regal with a 307 Olds V8-it's much easier to swap in a 350 or 403 Olds V8 ( a bolt-in ) for an instant power infusion than it would be to try to swap in a 455 Buick. If you have a Regal or Cutlass with a 301 Pontiac it would be easier to swap in a 400 Pontiac V8 than it would be to convert it back to "real" Buick or Olds power. If you have a pre-'85 Buick Regal T-Type with a carburated Turbo V6 or an '80-'81 Turbo Formula or Trans-Am with a carburated 301-I'd either go the 400 Pontiac route-or if you must have forced induction look for a wrecked late '90's Bonneville SSEI or Buick Riviera with the Supercharged,fuel-injected 3.8 V6. They have a Roots-type belt driven blower from the factory. They make 240 hp stock-and that could be easily upped by 100 or more with a pulley change and some bigger injectors. Now on the other hand-let's say you have a 4-cylinder '86 Mustang. Nothing against Fords-but they don't have anywhere near the parts interchangeability of GM and Chrysler stuff. You'd be much better off in lack of grief and financial investment by selling the car and just buying another Mustang that already had a Turbo 4-cylinder or "5.0" V8 in it rather than trying to convert it. The point is it's often better to take the path of least resistance when it comes to performance. And were talking about low-budget sleepers here-not Concours Shelby Mustangs or LS6 Chevelles-does anyone really give a shit that a '77 Firebird or an '84 Gran Prix has a Chevy engine in it? Mastermind         

Cross-breeding is alright if it's "Period Correct"......And not desecrating a rare classic!!..

Saw an article in Hot Rod Deluxe magazine about a guy who got a great "barn find" in the midwest. He bought a '57 Chevy Gasser that had always been a drag racer and had always been Pontiac powered. The second owner had bought it used about 1962, and installed a straight front axle,moved then engine back several inches for better traction,radiused the fenderwells for big slicks and installed a blown 389 Pontiac engine and a B&M Hydro tranny.  The car won many races for several years and when the engine blew the owner upgraded to a 421 Pontiac with a GMC blower on it. He eventually sold the car in 1978 to a guy who raced it until 1985-when the B&M hydro finally let go. He installed a 400 Pontiac engine and a TH400 out of a wrecked GTO and raced it some more. He sold the car to someone else who put it his barn and never really did anything with it. Fast-forward to 2015-and the guy advertised the car for sale. A bunch of purists turned up their noses because of the modified body and the Pontiac powertrain. The guy who did buy it remembered the car as an absolute terror on the strip and realized he had a piece of history. He's going to freshen up the paint-and try to get a replacement blower for the Pontiac engine-he's going to keep it as it was raced it's entire life. I think that's really cool rather than spending 100k plus trying to put it back to "original". A lot of people are screaming blasphemy right now-but hot rodding at it's core involved cross-breeding. If your old enough-or have a dad or uncle old enough-you know that a lot of guys put small-block Chevys into '32 Fords. I mentioned in an earlier post that a popular swap was putting a Cadillac V8 into a Studebaker Coupe. I knew a guy back in the '70's who had a badass '55 Ford F100. He'd put a Chevelle front clip on it which allowed him to have front disc brakes and power steering, and allowed him to install a snarling 427 Chevy Rat motor and a B&M prepped TH400. This monster knocked down high 11s and low 12s regularly depending on whether he smoked the tires halfway down the strip or all the way down the strip. Ford guys would cheer him at the drags until they came into the pits and saw that it was powered by a-gasp! Chevy!. I've seen El Caminos with 400 Pontiacs in them, a Tempest with a 425 Olds V8, a Cutlass with a 454 Chevy, and a Buick Skylark with a 400 Chevy Small-block. Sometimes you have a car laying around and an engine laying around, and you think-"Hey-this thing could really run for almost no investment other than time." There's nothing wrong with that-except like I cited the Hot Rod article where both musclecar guys and import tuners wanted to storm the guys house with torches-this schmuck put the engine and tranny out of a 1998 Turbo Toyota Supra into a '67 Camaro!-effectively butchering not one, but two classics. Like I've said before if you want to put an LS engine in a beater Tempest or Cutlass go ahead and enjoy it-just don't do it to a numbers-matching GTO or 442!! Put a Coyote into any beater Mustang of your choosing-just don't do it to a Boss 302!!  I have a 428 Pontiac engine in my garage. I'd love to find a '71-77 Pontiac Ventura to put it in and make a stompin' drag racer-( a Ventura is about 600 lbs lighter than a '70's Firebird ). But....that engine would just as easily go into a Nova or Olds Omega or Buick Apollo of the same vintage and go just as fast. And it wouldn't offend anybody-you don't hear of people fighting with machetes for pristine '73 Omegas too often!  Just a thought. Mastermind

A hot rod truck can be both cool and low-budget.....

Whether your a GM, Ford or Mopar guy you can build a really fast truck pretty easily. Think about it-a 454 V8 in a 3900 lb machine is a hot ride regardless of sheetmetal- does it really matter whether it's a '71 Chevelle or a '78 C10?  No it doesn't. Anyway-up until the early '60's trucks were strictly utilitarian-they were used for hauling heavy loads and towing trailers. In the late '60's the manufacturers started offering luxury items like air conditioning and upgraded interiors and they became more car-like and thus had performance potential. Here's the ones to look for. # 1. 1967-79 Chevy / GMC 1/2 ton. 1967-72 models are highly sought after-and for good reason. The bodystyle is great looking and they offered V8's from a 283 to a 396 depending on model year. '71-72 models even had front disc brakes as standard equipment. Obviously a small or big-block Chevy will be the first choice for power-but I know guys who have put 472 / 500 Cadillac V8s in these trucks as well as 455 Olds and Pontiac engines that made them awfully quick for very low-bucks. In 1973 they were completely re-designed and this style soldiered on with minor changes until 1987. I listed the '73-79 models as the most desirable because they had 350 or 454 V8s available. The engine bay will swallow any GM engine-including the 720 hp 572 crate motor.  The largest engine you could get in later 1/2 ton models was a 305. Yuck. There is a ton of aftermarket parts available for these trucks including front and rear sway bars, traction bars-you could build a drag racer or a corner-carver if you wanted to.  # 2. 1967-79 Ford F100 / F150. Just like GM, Ford drastically improved their pickups with a major re-design in 1967. In fact-a '68 Ford pickup was used in the big chase scene in the Charles Bronson action flick "Mr Majestyk" and the "Built Ford Tough" TV ads for years. '67-72 models will have V8s from 302 to 390 cubes. The 390s are the ones to look for-there's a ton of speed equipment for "FE" engines including Edelbrock aluminum heads. Like GM-another big re-design hit in 1973. The interiors got upgraded and V8s up to 460 inches were available. The 390 soldiered on until 1976. A lot of '75 and later models will have 351 / 400M motivation. What made them dogs was 2bbl carburation, single exhaust and a lazy cam. Edelbrock makes heads and intakes and cams for these engines that make them really rock. Anything 400 cubes will run pretty damn good with the right parts. And the "M" engines share the same bellhousing bolt-pattern as the 429 / 460-so swapping in a bigger motor is not too much trouble. Avoid the 360 V8 like the plague. They are an "FE" engine-but they have the triple attributes of no power, not much torque and crappy gas mileage. And their not worth hopping up-you get way more bang for the buck from a 351 / 400 or swapping in a 390.  # 3. 1972-78 Dodge D100 / D150. This bodystyle soldiered on until 1993. However after '78-with the exception of the '79 "Li'l Red Express" the largest engine you could get was a 318 or 360 with 2bbl. From '72-78 you could get anything from a 318 to a 440. 360s can be made to really run and there's stroker kits to turn them into a 408. A 400 is just a bored-out 383-so there's tons of speed equipment for them including stroker kits to make a 451, and of course the mighty 440. If you wanted to build a totally badass truck and had the bucks-they start at about 15 grand-you could put in a 426 or 472 or 528 inch Mopar Performance Hemi crate engine!!  Now that would give new meaning to the term "Monster Truck".... Mastermind     

Small-block musclecars can really run if their done right......

Everyone wants the big-block musclecars and this is why they command such high prices. However-for the enthusiast on a budget all is not lost. There are a lot more base model Chevelles, Cutlass and LeMans models out there with 350 cubes under the hood than there are SS396 / 454s, 442s, or GTOs with 400 or 455s in the engine bays. Ditto for Camaros and Firebirds. The same applies to Fords and Mopars. There are way more Mustangs,Torinos,Cougars and Montegos out there with 302 or 351 cubes under the hood than there are with 390, 428,429 or 460. There's way more Duster / Darts, Cuda / Challengers,and Road Runner / Satellite / Coronet / Charger models with 318 cubes under the bonnet than there are with 383s or 440s. Here's how to get the most "Bang for the Buck" from each line. # 1. Small-Block Chevy. This is a no-brainer. There's more speed equipment on the market for Small-Block Chevys than anything else on the planet. I mentioned before that Super Chevy built a 400 hp 350 with all new parts for $2,600. Magazine writers spout numbers flippantly-but believe me-400 honest hp will turn any street car into an absolute rocket. And that's just for starters-with a SBC your limited only by your wallet and imagination. For example-Edelbrock is selling a supercharged SBC crate engine with over 700 hp. For most of us-were either going to have to use the engine that came in the car-or find a used core to start with. Either way your ok. Two-bolt main blocks and cast cranks and cast pistons are find for this kind of use as long as rpm's don't go over 6,500. Scoggin-Dickey Chevrolet offers brand-new Iron "Vortec" heads for $650 a pair. Their 64cc chambers will bump compression on the average 350 from 8.2:1 to about 9.5:1-that'll give you a nice power and torque boost in addition to the 30-40 hp the improved breathing will give-testing has shown that these heads breathe better than any factory head and many aftermarket ones. This one simple bolt-on could be worth as much as 50 hp. That's a screaming deal-many machine shops charge that much to re-do your old heads and they don't breathe nearly as well as the Vortecs. You'll have to buy a "Vortec" style intake-but Edelbrock,Weiand and Holley all offer performance Vortec intakes for about $200. The main thing is go for a cam that builds maximum torque. Crane,Edelbrock,Lunati, and Comp Cams all offer excellent street cams that will make mega-hp and still have 12-15 inches of vacuum at idle. Their catalogs will give you recommendations on axle ratios, converter stall speed etc. The reason I recommend these cams over the factory performance cams-the old standbys-350 hp 327 cam, the L46 / L82 350 cam, the LT1 cam  etc-is you have to realize those "classic" cams are based on 1964 camshaft profiles and are not computer optimized. The modern cams will make more power,idle better and get better gas mileage. # 2. Small-Block Mopar. If you have a really light car-i.e.-Duster / Dart-318s can really run. They respond well to basic hot rod tricks-cam, intake, headers, etc. But the reality is in a heavy car-like a Road Runner or Charger-their just too small for serious performance work. Just like the Chevys-a 350 makes Waaayyy more power than a 305, yet costs no more to buy or build. Same here-a 360 makes way more power and torque with the same equipment. If you have a 360 in your car-by all means use it. If you don't-I would hit the boneyards and look for a '92-2003 360 "Magnum" V8 out of a Dodge Pickup or van or a Jeep Grand Cherokee. There are millions of them around. The good thing is besides being cheap and plentiful- like the Chevy "Vortecs"-the "Magnum" heads breathe better than any factory head and many aftermarket ones. And again-Edelbrock makes Performer and Performer "RPM" intakes that bolt-up to the "Magnum" heads. And they have roller cams from the factory. Edelbrock and Comp Cams offer excellent replacement roller cams for these engines. Eagle and other companys offer stroker crank,rod and piston kits to turn a 360 into a 408 if you so desire. Blueprint Engines offers a 408 crate engine that has 375 hp and 460 lbs of torque-you could duplicate that build pretty easily. Edelbrock claims 417 hp from their "Performer RPM" package on a 360-so the potential is there. # 3. Small-Block Ford. Again-if you have a light car-a Falcon / Maverick / Comet or Mustang / Cougar a 302 can really rock. In a heavier car like a Fairlane, Torino,Montego etc-a 351W / 351C offers a lot more "bang" for the buck. If your car has a 302-there is a ton of speed equipment available-almost as much as there is for Small-Block Chevys. There are stroker crank kits to turn a 302 into a 347 or a 363. If your car has a 351C-by all means use it. There is still a ton of speed equipment available for these engines including aftermarket heads. The downside is they were only built from 1970-74-so unless the car you have or are buying has one in it-their pretty scarce. If you have to buy an engine-I'd get a 351W. They were used in various Ford car and truck models from 1969-1997. Ford SVT sells high-performance 351W based crate engines to this day-even 392 and 427 inch strokers. Your limited only by your wallet and imagination. Edelbrock and Trick Flow offer "Cleveland" style aluminum heads that will bolt up to Windsor blocks and Edelbrock offers "E-Boss" intakes-so you could build a "Boss 302" or "Boss 351" on your own. # 4. Small-Block Oldsmobile. Of GM's "other"-i.e.-non Chevrolet 350 V8s-these have the most potential. The Factory "W31s" were grossly Under-rated at 325 hp. Think about this-the generic, "station wagon" 350 4bbl engine made 310 hp. The "W31"-with high-performance heads,special exhaust manifolds,an aluminum high-rise intake, and cam so hot it was only available with a 4-speed and 3.90:1 or 4.33:1 gears-only made 15 more hp???  Riiiiggghhht.  Anyhow they were available in virtually every Olds model from 1968-1980. Edelbrock claims 397 hp and 400 lbs of torque from their "Performer Rpm" package. Like I said-400 hp will make any street car a rocket. Another alternative is to use a 403. They were used in millions of Buick, Olds and Pontiac "Big" cars in the late '70's as well as hundreds of thousands of Pontiac Firebirds and Trans-Ams so their fairly plentiful. Anything that fits a 350 will fit a 403-and 53 extra cubes would definitely put you at about 425 hp and 450 lbs of torque with the Edelbrock "RPM" package-not too shabby for a "Smog Dog!!"  # 5. 350 Pontiac. "Rodney Dangerfield" here gets no respect from enthusiasts-mainly because Pontiac engines are externally identical from a 326 to a 455. If you want a big power infusion-you simply swap in a 400, 428 or 455. And-because of their small-bore / long stroke design-the big-valve heads from the larger engines-that you would need to make SERIOUS power-can't be used-the valves will hit the block. However-if you have a Firebird, LeMans or Ventura with a 350 under the hood, don't despair. They respond well to basic hot rod tricks. You just accentuate what the factory did-make big torque at low rpm. With a '68-74 factory Iron 4bbl intake or an Edelbrock Performer and matching cam or the Crane "Blueprint" "068" cam and a set of headers you can make 325-350 hp and 400 lbs of torque pretty easy and still have 15 inches of vacuum at idle, and pull hard to 5,500 rpm. With 350+ lbs of torque from idle on up-you don't need to rev to 7 grand. Scoff if you want-but that power level with an axle ratio between 3.23 and 3.73 would put any LeMans or Firebird solidly in the 13s on street tires with a glass-smooth idle. If you need to go faster than that-then you have to step up to a 400 or 455. People talk about notching the blocks to make the big heads work-but why? You still only have 350 cubes-and a 400 or 455 is going to make substantially more power and torque with the same equipment and no more cost. Places like Butler Performance advertise 550 hp Pontiac engines that run on 89 octane gas-but they aren't 350s!!!  You might notice that the 350 Buick V8 is conspicuously absent. The reason is unlike Chevy, Olds and Pontiac there was never a factory high-performance version, and aftermarket support is non-existant. I mean Edelbrock doesn't even make an intake manifold for them-and Edelbrock makes intakes for EVERYTHING from Flathead Fords, 348 / 409 Chevys,215 inch BOP / Rover V8s,472 / 500 Cadillacs and 2.8 GM V6s, and Honda / Acura 4-bangers!  No one makes cams or headers or anything for them. Sadly-if you want to hot rod your Century / Skylark / Regal-you'll have to get a 400 / 430 / 455 out of a big car and swap that in-there IS speed parts available for those-or-blasphemy, I know-swap in a Chevy, Pontiac or Olds V8. Buick guys don't like it-but that's the lay of the land-if there's no parts available there's no parts available. Anyhow-that's what I'd do to save money AND go fast with a small-block musclecar. Hope this helps out. Mastermind           .            

"Purists" Get Over Yourselves!!!.....Hot Rodding has always been thinking outside the box....

Had a few drinppingly sarcastic emails from Purists over the last few posts-saying that I shouldn't have included the Kit Cars like the '33 Ford, the '50 Ford, the 'Vette and 240Z based Ferarri replicas as those aren't "real" musclecars. Puhleeze. Long before Pontiac introduced the GTO in 1964 there were Hot Rods. Guys were playing with Flathead Fords-how do you think Vic Edelbrock got started? By building high-performance Flathead V8's for his and his customers race cars! A popular swap was the "Studillac"-guys would would stuff the big Cadillac V8 into a light, sleek Studebaker Coupe body to try and go 200 mph at Bonneville. And what about the almighty Shelby Cobra that everyone worships? The original Cobra was a British sports car called the AC Ace that Carroll Shelby stuffed a 260 ( and later 289 ) Ford V8 into!!  So many guys were putting small-block Chevys into Austin Healeys that the buff magazines of the day affectionately called them the "Poor Man's Cobra".  Ditto for the 289 Ford powered Sunbeam Tiger. Are these guys saying that a Pantera isn't a performance car because it has an Italian body and a Ford V8? These guys must have Donald Trump's bank account-you seriously turn up your nose at the Idea of a blisteringly fast, great handling '33 "California Kid" tribute-because it's not "Original??"  I hate to break this to you-'34 Fords didn't have 302 V8's and C4 automatics!!!  So Pete Chapouris' classic isn't "Original" either asshole!!!  Ditto for the American Graffiti / Two-Lane Blacktop '55-'55 Chevys didn't have 454's and tilt front ends from the factory!!!  Arrrrrgghhhh!!!  I will not "apologize" for giving good advice on how to copy a movie / TV car and save money. Just what is it I said that's so offensive and requires an apology? Mastermind    

Still more Movie and TV cars that you can build....

Had a reader write in with some more good ideas on cool movie cars that you can replicate. Some will be cheap, some not so cheap, but they were all great ideas. # 1. "Death Proof" Nova. I don't how this one slipped my mind-but the flat black,menacing Nova driven by Kurt Russel in Tarantino's Grindhouse classic would be easy to do. Find a '68-72 Nova, paint it flat black with a skull on the hood, some loud exhausts,some Rally Wheels,and some longer shackles or even air shocks to give it the jacked up rear-end look and your there. A snarling small-block would help too, and if you want to go all the way-Summitt offers bolt-in roll cages for X-bodies. # 2. "American Graffiti" '32 Ford. I make the same recommendation here that I did for the "California Kid". Get a Factory Five Racing '33 Ford Hot Rod Kit-the base kit is $11,995 and the turn-key one with everything but the engine and tranny is $19,995. Hot Rod magazine built one with a wicked 347 that ran low 11s in the 1/4 for under 25K. Paint it yellow,pay extra for a vanity plate that reads THX1138 and you've got Milner's ride. Or close enough. # 3. "Nash Bridges" 'Cuda. Several years after Miami Vice ended Don Johnson had another hit playing a Sonny Crockett type San Francisco detective who had a '71 Hemi 'Cuda convertible. ( Ok, they said it was a Hemi-but the close-up camera car-and Johnsons's favorite was a 340 / 4-speed model. The other stunt cars were 318 models with the scooped hood. ) The problem is finding any 'Cuda convertible is going to be hard-they were only built in 1970 and 71 and even 318 models are rare and thus a little pricey-people want 15k for rough 318 models that need a lot of work. However-if you "Gotta Have" Nash Bridges' ride-you could buy a 318 Barracuda drop-top and put the scooped hood on it and paint it orange. You could put in a Mopar Performance 380 hp 360 crate motor or go whole hog and spend 15K for a 465hp 426 Hemi crate motor. Probably cost you 50k to build, but that's way less than the $250,000 on up a that a "real" Hemi 'Cuda convertible would cost. # 4. "Mission Impossible" Sport Fury. Your mission,should you choose to accept it-is to find a clean 1970-72 Plymouth Sport Fury. With cool hidden headlight, fuselage styling and 383,400 or 440 cubes under the hood Mr Phelps ( Peter Graves ) did have a cool ride. # 5. "Boss Hogg" Caddy. The Iconic Charger wasn't the only cool ride on the "Dukes of Hazzard". Sorrell Booke ( "Boss Hogg" ) was driven around in a triple-white 1969-70 Cadillac Deville convertible. I personally wouldn't put the big bull horns on the hood-but I'd love to have a classic Caddy drop-top with 472 cubes under that long hood....Or......# 6. "Daisy Duke" GTX. Most people remember Catherine Bach in the short-shorts and the Jeep CJ5 with no top. ( The Jeep, not Catherine, damn it ) But in the first season Daisy had a '71 GTX. You could get by with a '71-72 Satellite or Road Runner...# 7. "Dynasty / Colbys 1963 Ferarri GTO. Miles Colby ( Maxwell Caulfield ) drove a '63 Ferarri GTO. But it was really a Datsun 240Z with a fiberglass body kit and a snarling small-block Chevy under the bonnet. Check Kit Car magazine-I'm pretty sure the company that sold the bodies is still in business-it was a front-end and rear valance kit-most of the 240Z body was used. 1970-78 240 / 260 / 280Z's are plentiful-and even if you don't want to swap in a Chevy V8-there are headers, cams, and Weber carb kits that really wake up the 6 cylinder Z motors. Mastermind      

More Iconic movie and TV cars....

Had some people ask about some other movie and TV cars and how to get them cheaply. These may not be cheap, but they won't cost you fifty or a hundred grand.  # 1. "The Dark Half". George Stark-the fictional killer in the Stephen King thriller drove a jet-black '67 Toronado with a bumper sticker that read "A High Toned Son of a Bitch".  Any Toro from '66-70 would do-and honestly-any Buick Riviera from '66-69 has the same bodystyle and has the advantage of being rear-wheel drive. ( Toros are all front-drive.) A blacked out Riv with a snarling big-block Chevy, and 17" Torq-Thrusts would be a high-toned son of a bitch indeed.  Just Saying. # 2.  "Road House" Patrick Swayze drove two '63-65 Rivieras in this action flick-ironically-because he didn't want his 380SEC Mercedes trashed. It's a running joke through the film-like "I thought you'd be bigger."  These Rivs have kind of a cult following of their own-so you might have to spend 10 grand on up for a decent one-but that's better than 25. # 3. "The Transporter". I know-it's an Import, not a musclecar, but a lot of people asked and I aim to please. The badass BMW that Jason Statham drove in the original ( and best ) "Transporter" was a one-off European-spec 733i that BMW built special for the movie with a manual transmission. So no, you can't buy one at any price. But you can buy a 1995-2000 540i with a V8, a six-speed manual, and sport suspension that looks very close to Statham's ride and has the performance to match-5-second 0-60 times. And I have seen them on used car lots for less than $8,000.    # 4. "Miami Vice". The Ferarri Daytona Spider that Don Johnson drove on "Vice" was actually a kit car built by Tom McBurnie on a '68-82 Corvette chassis. McBurnie and several other companies sold the kits for years until Ferarri filed a lawsuit. You can probably find one either finished or unfinished in Hemmings Motor News, Kit Car magazine or on the internet. The beauty is the Corvette chassis and drivetrain. Replacement parts are readily available at your local Autozone store. I'd put four Webers on a snarling 383 to really have the look....Dynamite if you could find one.  # 5. "Goodfellas". Ray Liotta drove a '68 Gran Prix in this gangster classic. 400 or 428 cubes under that long hood and Cadillac-like luxury-you can't go wrong. # 6. "Hard to Kill". Steven Seagal's 2nd-and I think best action flick. Early on he drove a cool black '63 T-Bird with wire wheels. '61-63 "Bullet Birds" aren't cheap- you'll probably need at least 15K to find a decent one-but that's still less than any decent '60's Mustang will cost. # 7. "American Beauty". Kevin Spacey's classic line in response to Annette Benning sneering-"What is that thing in the driveway?"  "1970 Pontiac Firebird". "The car I always wanted, and now I have it." "I rule!".  Actually any '70-73 model will be the same bodystyle, but the Formula 400 models offer the most "Bang for the buck".  Mastermind    

If you want an iconic movie car you don't have to spend 100K+.....

I was talking with some people the other day about legendary movie cars and I was amazed at how literal and nit-picky these people were. They were lamenting that if you wanted an iconic movie car replica it would cost you 100 grand to buy and or build one. I disagree-you could build almost anything for under 25 or 30 grand-as long as your not trying to copy it down to the nth degree. Here's some of my favorites that could be very easily done. # 1. The "California Kid." Yes, it would cost a mint to hot rod an original '34 like Pete Chapouris' classic. But Factory Five racing offers their '33 Ford Hot Rod kit for $19,995 turn-key with everything except the engine and transmission. You can have the frame and crossmember set up to accept any small-block Chevy or LS engine,or any small-block Ford or Coyote and matching tranny. You could buy a 345 hp SVT 302 crate engine and a B&M or TCI C4 for less than 6 grand. So for 25K you've got a car that runs low 12s or high 11s in the 1/4 ( they only weigh about 2,400 lbs-about 800 less than a Fox Mustang ) handles like a slot car and looks cool as hell. Even if you spent another 5 grand on a black pearl and red,yellow and orange flamed paint job you've still got only 30K in the whole shebang. Or if your a mechanic / bodyman-get the basic kit for $12,995, buy an '83-2004 V8 Mustang and pirate the running gear, suspension and electronics and probably get it done for under 20K. Now that's a bargain. # 2. "Thunder Road" '50 Ford. Again-hunting down and building a for-real '50 Ford Coupe would cost a mint. Check the internet-I can't remember the company name off the top of my head but their still in business. They offered body kits that bolt onto an '89-'97 Ford T-Bird body and look exactly like a '50 Coupe. If you got a '91-95 "5.0" V8 model-or a '96-97 4.6 V8-virtually any speed parts that fit a Mustang fit these cars-you'd have unlimited performance potential. If I remember correctly-I think the kits are $5,995 and I have seen '89 and later T-birds as low as $1999 on used car lots. If you could do the labor yourself, you could build a stompin' '50 replica for like 10 grand. # 3. American Graffiti / Two-Lane Blacktop '55 Chevy. We all know this was the same car with minor body and trim changes for each film. And no-I'm not suggesting you cut up and "Gasserize" an original '55. Hot Rod magazine did an article and so did Street Rodder-there's a company called Woody's Hot Rods-under liscence from GM-that is selling brand-new '55-57 Chevy bodies and chassis. Hot Rod built theirs with a 396 Rat Motor and a 4-speed for 25K. Street Rodder did theirs with a 350 and a TH350 for under 25K. That's what an original '55 that needs another 30 grand worth of resto work would cost!!  Purists might think it blaspehemy-but another guy built one for under 20 with a  straight front axle,radiused rear wheelwells and a stompin' 400 Pontiac / TH400 that he had in his garage out of a wrecked Tempest race car!  It's not original anyway so who cares?  A badass Tri-Five Chevy for under 25 grand?  You can't go wrong.  # 4. Burt Reynolds' "White Lightning" LTD. There's been a lot of debate about these cars. At least one was supposed to be a 429 / 4-speed.  In some scenes they show the Hurst shifter and him shifting it. It others you clearly see him or Jennifer Billingsley operating an automatic column shifter. No matter-nobody's asking a King's Ransom for '71-72 Ford Galaxie or LTD 4-door sedans. Get some black wheels with chrome lug nuts ala'-Super Bee style and white-letter tires. Most will have 351 or 400C motivation which isn't bad. Headers and loud exhausts with glasspacks will give you the sound and an Edelbrock Perfomer intake and matching carb and cam will give you the torque to do smoky burnouts. Paint it Chesterfield Brown and your there. Cheaply. Since Ford didn't offer a manual transmission in these models those of you who "Gotta Have " a 4-speed are in for a rough go. You'd either have to find Mustang / Torino Clutch linkage and pedals or F100 Truck Linkage and pedals and adapt that. Plus you'd have to find the proper bellhousing and Find a T10 or Top-Loader 4-speed and trans and figure out which disc, pressure plate and Throw-Out bearing to use-because Fords are all different-a 351 is going to need different stuff than a 390, which is going to need different stuff than a 429,-see what I'm saying. Finding all the parts and converting it would be expensive and a nightmare. Just live with the C6 or FMX auto and get a Hurst Auto Stick 1 or Mr Gasket or B&M shifter that LOOKS like a 4-speed shifter. You'll be happier and have a lot less grief and more cash in your wallet. # 5. Mad Max / Road Warrior Interceptor. Mel Gibson's Iconic ride was actually an Australian 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT coupe. No I'm not suggesting you have a '73-76 Falcon shipped from Australia. ( Although there is a company called "Aussie Coupes" that will custom-build you one and ship it to America if you have the cash. ) No there's two ways to do this cheaply. Like I said in an earlier post when I first saw the movie I thought it was '71-73 Mustang fastback. After looking closer,-especially at the taillights-I thought it might be a '70-71 Torino.  Either car will be close enough after you de-chrome it and black out the trim. You can graft van flares onto the wheelwells and get some wide black wheels and fat tires and there's several companies on the internet that sell Top-Fuel style "Zoomie" upswept side exhausts. Depending on if you want to look badass-or actually be badass-there's companies that sell fake GMC blowers. Or you could actually put a Weiand blower on your 302 or 351 Ford V8. # 6. "Ramrod" Bronco. This 1981 Cult-Classic "Vice Squad" starred Season Hubly as a Hooker / Police informant trying to help Cop Gary Swanson nail a killer pimp / drug dealer named "RamRod" played with wicked glee by Wings Hauser-who also sang the opening title song- "Neon Slime". Ramrod was a mean MoFo-and he drove a sinister black '78 or '79 Bronco with Center Line wheels, huge tires,loud exhaust and the "Nite" flourescent stripe package that Ford offered back then. He also had a cool spare tire cover on the back that said "Ramrod" in big letters. I thought that was the coolest looking truck when I saw the movie in '81-and It still looks cool on DVD or late-night cable today-34 years later. I know it's technically a truck...But still.....Which brings up  # 7...."Lone Wolf McQuade" Ramcharger. This movie is where CBS got the Idea for "Walker: Texas Ranger"  Chuck Norris was a duh-Texas Ranger who kicked a lot of ass. He also had some cool sex scenes with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model turned actress Barbara Carrera and he drove a wicked, Supercharged '79 Dodge Ramcharger. A Ramcharger with a Roots-Type blower? If it's good enough for Chuck, it's good enough for me.  Any of these cars could be built cheaply and would be way to cool to show off in. Mastermind                        

More BAMF musclecars......

Had some people tell me about a few BAMF musclecars I missed in the last post. I aim to please so here they are.... # 1. 1968-71 Dodge Super Bee. With the cool sunglass and helmet-wearing Bee with smoking tires for an ass graphics,scooped hoods, simple black wheels with chrome lug nuts, and at least 383 cubes under the hood with the 440s and the Hemi optional these stripped-down street fighters were lean and mean. '68-70 models were based on the Coronet body; for '71 only they were based on the Charger. # 2. 1969-70 Cougar Eliminator. Cool hidden headlight styling, Boss 302 style graphics and spoilers and 428 cubes under the hood? I'd say that qualifies. # 3. 1971-73 Mustang Mach 1. With the NACA ducts in the blacked-out hood,front and rear spoilers and fat tires on the swoopy fastback body-these cars still look mean today. When I first saw "Mad Max" and the "Road Warrior"-I thought the Interceptor was one of these. ( It's actually a 1973 Falcon XB coupe-an Australian Ford Musclecar that looks a lot like a Mustang. There's a company called "Aussie Coupes" that will build you a Mad Max interceptor as mild or wild as you like ). Or you could just buy one of these 'Stang's and copy it....Most have 351C motivation and there is a ton of speed equipment still available for these engines. # 4. 1978-79 Dodge Li'l Red Express pickup. With a cool red and gold paint job,fat tires on chrome wheels, and vertical semi-style dual exhaust stacks,and a Police Interceptor 360 V8-these stepside 2WD pickups were the the third-fastest American production vehicle those years-edged out only by the L82 Corvette and WS6 Trans-Am. Dynamite if you can find one. # 5. 1989 20th Anniversary Trans-Am. These cars had a cool white and blue paint job, Recaro seats and the vaunted Turbocharged V6 out of the wicked Buick Grand National. Since the GN motor had more power and was lighter than the LB9 and L98 small-block Chevys-these cars were not only substantially faster than a regular T/A they also handled better-and the cars were nothing less than awesome handlers to start with. These command a King's Ransom-but their worth it. Let me know if I overlooked any others...Mastermind        

The most BAMF musclecars of all time....

I've said before that musclecars are definitely like Jules' wallet from "Pulp Fiction". ( The one that says Bad Mother%*r on it ). However some are way more badass than others. Some for power and handling, some for just sheer audacity, the fact that the engineers had the balls to build them in the first place. Here's my list of the greatest "BAMF's".  #1 1969 Charger Daytona / 1970 Plymouth Superbird. These slope-nosed big rear winged monsters were built specifically to top 200 mph on the big NASCAR tracks and they still look badass 45 years later. And with the mighty 440 Magnum under the hood standard, with the 440 Six-Pack and the 426 Hemi optional they can back up the image. If Darth Vader drove a car-it would be a Superbird. # 2. 1969-70 Boss 302 Mustang. Larry Shinoda's Masterpiece and again-they still look cool 45 years later. And with 11.0:1 comprsssion, a hot solid-lifter cam, Cleveland heads with ports and valves the size of a big-block Chevy,an aluminum intake and a 780 Holley-it only made 290 hp-the same as the "station wagon" 351W that was standard in the Mach 1. Riiiggghhhht. There's a reason they only came with a 4-speed and 3.91:1 or 4.30:1 gears!  Built so Ford could homogolate them for Trans-Am racing-only 1,600 were built in 1969 and a little over 7,000 in 1970 so they command a King's Ransom-but boy are they worth it. If you've ever driven one-or even just Heard One at full wail-you'd agree. # 3. 1970-71 Mercury Cyclone. Another Nascar warrior. Swoopy styling, cool graphics and 351C, 428FE or 429 Thunderjet motivation-you can't go wrong. # 4. 1969-71 GTO Judge. A play on Flip Wilson's "Laugh-in" skit "Here Comes Da Judge"-other than the Carousel Red paint,big rear wing and wild striping-these were nothing to sneeze at. With the Mighty RAIII standard and the vaunted RAIV optional they were'nt a paper tiger-you'd see taillights if you took one lightly and were driving anything but maybe a Hemi 'Cuda or LS6 Chevelle. I know-I had  a 4.33:1 geared, 4-speed RAIII model that smote every challenger in biblical fashion. Only 357 were built in '71,but they had the Mighty 455HO standard. Driving a Judge is like dating a stripper or eating a noisy bag of chips in church. People may frown at you in feigned disgust; but secretly they really,really want some too.  # 5. 1977-79 DKM "Macho T/A". The Mecham brothers took the already wildly popular Trans-Am and gave it a shot of adrenaline. Cool graphics,a re-curved distributor,a re-jetted carb, an opened hood scoop and Hooker Headers with two cats and no mufflers made these cars sound badass. And they were-Hot Rod's "Macho" test car ripped off a 14.29 et-the same day a stocker turned in a 15.20 at the same track. Options included a Chrome Rollbar in the interior, Recaro seats, and even an H/O racing specialties Turbocharger. When performance was in the darkest days-and every manufacturer was shying away-( The Freakin' Mustang II? A six-cylinder powered Hornet based AMX ? The Charger as a re-badged Cordoba?  Really? )  Pontiac, and Herb Adams and the Mecham Brothers gave the "Finger" with both hands to the EPA and the safety Nazis and the pipe-smoking, tweed-cap wearing automotive press that derided solid axles and big V8's.      # 6. Mother Mopar scores again. 1970 Challenger T/A / 'Cuda AAR. With the blacked out scooped hoods,Go-Wing,small front tires / big rear tires, LOUD side-exit exhausts and a snarling 340 Six-Pack under the hood-these cars shout "I'm Sexy and I know it".  "I work out....Look at that Body..."  # 7. Baldwin-Motion MakoShark. Remember the 'Vette Mark Hamill built in "Corvette Summer?"  When everyone else was giving up-Joel Rosen came up with these wildy styled,side-piped, flared fendered, monster tired "Vette's on Steroids. And you could order one with a fire-breathing LS6 or LS7. God, I miss the '70's.  Feel free to send in any I may have missed.  Mastermind        

Why magazines can't always do "Apples to Apples"....

After all the posts about road test ringers I had someone ask why can't the buff magazines always test "Apples to Apples"-i.e. the top option vs the top option of whatever cars their comparing. They try to, but their at the mercy of the manufacturers and what they have in their test fleet. It's been that way since the '60's and it's still that way. For example way back in 1969 Popular Hot Rodding tested a bunch of musclecars. They got a Hemi Charger with a Torqueflite and 3.23:1 gears. They said it was like running with one flat tire. They went through the traps in second gear and couldn't even break out of the 14s. Now if they'd had a 4-speed and some 4.10 gears it would have really rocked. They also tested a GTO Judge with a 3-speed stick! Really? The scribes bitched and correctly stated-that the car would have been much quicker with either a 4-speed or a TH400. They asked for a Ram Air IV GTO with a 4-speed and 3.90:1 or 4.33:1 gears. What did they get? A Ram Air III with a 3 speed and 3.55:1 gears!!  They got an L88 Corvette with a TH400 and 3.36:1 gears, when they asked for one with a 4-speed and 4.56:1 gears. Wonder why the test results weren't truly indicative of what the cars could run?  In 1971 a mag tested an LS6 Corvette against a 455HO Trans-Am. The 'Vette won the drag race easily by 3 or 4 tenths. However-the 'Vette was a 4-speed and had 4.11:1 gears and the T/A was an automatic with 3.08:1 gears. Had the T/A been a 4-speed with the standard 3.73:1 gears-the results would have been different. Or if the 'Vette had been an automatic with 3.08:1 gears it would have been different-the T/A would have won both times. The absolute worst one was a 1973 Motor Trend "Ponycar Comparo" That they declared a Javelin AMX the best peformer over a Chevy Camaro, a Pontiac Firebird, and a Ford Mustang. Except the AMX was a 401 / 4-speed model-the top performance option, and the Camaro wasn't even a Z/28-it was a Type LT with a 165 hp 2bbl 350 and a TH350!! The Firebird wasn't a Trans-Am or even a Formula 400-it was an Esprit with a 2bbl 350 and a slushbox, and the Mustang had a 351 2bbl with 177 hp and an automatic! Now if the Camaro had been a Z/28, the Firebird a Trans-Am or even a Formula 400 and the Mustang a 351CJ-the Javelin would have finished dead last!!  But that's all GM and Ford had available in their test fleets at the time. They did have an addendum on the article-that included test results of the premium models-and they added a 340 'Cuda to the mix as well-and the results were very different. The 340, 4-speed, 3.91:1 geared 'Cuda smote everyone in the drag race except the SD-455 Trans-Am! The Ford guys got the shaft a second time-The Mach 1 supplied this time did have the 266 hp 351CJ engine-but it had an automatic and 3.00:1 gears! If it had been a 4-speed with either 3.50:1 or 3.91:1 gears-which were options-it might have beaten the 'Cuda and givcn the T/A a run for the money. This still happens. As late as 2011 a magazine tested a Camaro SS, a Mustang Boss 302 and a Dodge Challenger R/T. The Dodge Boys got screwed. The Camaro had 426 hp, the Mustang had 444 and the Challenger 370. Why? Because a 425 hp SRT8 Challenger wasn't available at the time. Not that the results would have been totally different-the Boss 302 still would have won-but it would have been a lot closer because in addition to the extra hp-the SRT8 package included better tires and Brembo brakes. What you have to do as readers is gather the data and decide for yourself and take into account things like different gear ratios etc. For example-the supercharged 662 hp GT500 Mustang is only a couple tenths quicker in the 1/4 than the 435 hp base model GT. The reason-it smokes the tires all the way down the track. The car is literally doing about 90 mph when the wheelspin stops. Here's the catch 22-if you put drag radials on the GT500-the times would drop dramatically. But then you'd lose the world-class cornering of the street tires. That's where the old term "Buyer Beware" came from. Anyhow-don't be too hard on the magazine guys-their doing the best they can with what their given. Mastermind      

Even more road test ringers....

This subject has sparked a lot of interest so here's some more Road Test Ringers.  #1. 1979 Z/28 Camaro. In the late '70's the Mecham Brothers had great success marketing the "Macho T/A". In addition to cool graphics and some suspension tweaking they also had Hooker Headers and real dual exhaust ( with two catalytic converters instead of one ) a re-jetted carb and a re-curved HEI distributor and the "Shaker" hood scoop opened up. These mods were said to add 50-70 hp. Hot Rod's July 1978 Macho T/A test car ripped off a blistering 14.29 e.t. Nearly a full second quicker than the 15.20 ran by a stocker on the same day at the same track.  Anyhow nearly a year later Popular Hot Rodding had on the cover a blurb about their new Z/28 test car that ran "low 14s" right off the showroom floor. It was right off the showroon floor-of Mecham Chevrolet-Pontiac in Glendale, Arizona-the home of the "Macho T/A." The Mecham brothers had decided after the phenomenal success of the "Macho T/A" ( they were selling 300 cars a year and couldn't keep up with demand mainly because of the positive reviews from the buff magazines ) that maybe they could do the same thing with a Z/28. So this Z/28 had the full "Macho" treatment-Hooker Headers and dual cats with no mufflers, just resonators,a custom-jetted Q-Jet and a re-curved HEI distributor and an opened hood scoop. It was a "Macho Z" prototype.  Predictably it ran a string of  14.3's-substantially quicker than Car Crafts bone-stock tester which ran a 15.21 and Car and Drivers which ran a 15.60. For whatever reasons-Chevy dealers weren't as interested in selling hotted-up Cars as Pontiac was-and this was the one and only "Macho Z" know to exist. But it wasn't a stock test car!!!  # 2. 1987 Buick Grand National. High Performance Cars magazine had a drag race between a new Grand National and a 1970 LS6 Chevelle. The LS6 won the "shootout" running a 13.49 and a 13.61 vs the GN's 13.85 and 13.90. Huh?  Back in the day-Car and Driver, Road and Track, Motor Trend, Hot Rod, everyone tested '86-87 GN's and most of them ran 14.30's. Which back then was blisteringly fast-L98, 4-speed 'Vettes were running about 14.60-and LB9 Z/28's and "5.0" Mustangs were running low 15's. So how did these guys run 13.85?  Well, first they decided that since GN's were tire fryers-and since the Chevelle had drag radials on it-in the interest of "fairness" the 215/65R15 Goodyear Radials that came stock were swapped for some 235/60R15 M&H Drag Radials. And the tank was filled with 100 octane unleaded racing gas ( Which-duh-on a Turbo'd, intercooled engine with a knock sensor that backs up the timing when itn senses detonation-would certainly run way better than 87 or 91 octane pump gas! ) And the owner of the car had installed a 160 degree thermostat instead of the stock 195 and installed a fan switch that kicked the fan on at 185 degrees instead of 220. He had obviously figured out the car ran much faster when cold than hot. Oh, and they put wet towels on the intake manifold between runs.  Think that might make a wee bit of difference over one running street radials,at 220 degrees on 87 octane gas?  Yeah!!! About 4 or 5 tenths in the 1/4!!!  But that kind of pushes the envelope on "Stock" I'd say. Wouldn't you?  Which Brings up....# 3. 1989 "5.0" Mustang. I said in an earlier post that most stock '87-93 Mustangs ran between 14.72 and 15.29 in 1/4 mile testing by various buff magazines. So how did Car Craft run a blistering 14.05 with their stock "5.0" test car? It was stock....except for the 225/60R15 Goodyear Gatorback radials being swapped for some 235/60R15 M&H Drag tires,the 2.73 axle ratio being swapped for some 3.55:1's, a K&N airbox and filter being added and a Flowmaster "Cat-Back" exhaust sytem. I mean if your going to nit-pick..... # 4. 1992 Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR4. This one rivals the Royal Pontiac '64 GTO for sheer balls in cheating. Mitsubishi advertised their twin-turbo, all-wheel-drive sports car as running a blistering 13.75 in the 1/4 mile "under controlled conditions with a professional driver".  Since showroom examples and test mules tested by the magazines were running mid-14's you may wonder how this was accomplished.  The "Contolled Conditions" were these-they filled the tank with 100 octane racing gas, disconnected the knock sensor,disconnected the rev limiter,and lowered tire pressure to 15 psi. Then the "professional driver" popped the clutch at 6,200 rpm and powershifted at 7,000 ( 500 rpm over the redline on the tach ). This gave them the quick time-and blew the $5,769 transaxle after three runs.  Gee, I wonder why my neighbor who had one and waved that ad in my face and was running pump gas and 35 psi in his tires,with all the electronic nannies enabled, and tried to launch about 3 grand, couldn't outrun my Hurst / Olds from a light?  Needless to say he was more shocked than I was...... Mastermind        

Still more editorial favoritism.......

Had a reader respond to the last post about another magazine blatantly favoring one car over another. The magazine was Musclecar Review and the test was Cobra vs L88. They located two guys-one who had a for-real, documented 427 Shelby Cobra and another who had a documented L88 Corvette, and they were willing to drag race them and show once and for all who was really "King Kong."  Initially both cars ran very low 13s and very high 12s depending on whether they spun the tires halfway down the track or all the way down the track. The problem was the street tires. Both cars then were equipped with drag radials. With decent traction the Cobra's time dropped into the 12.30-12.40 range. The L88 ripped off a string of 12.0's and the best was a blistering 11.88 at 121 mph!!  Then they decided to run heads up two out of three, winner take all. The L88 won the first run. On the second run the Cobra broke an axle shaft and the Corvette's clutch let go. They decided to meet again at a later date after both cars were fixed. At the second meeting, the Corvette driver had trouble with the new clutch. He couldn't make the car launch properly either slipping it or dropping it. He still ran a 12.47 which was barely beaten by the Cobra's 12.41. The second round-same thing the 'Vette ran a 12.50 and the Cobra ran a 12.39. So the magazine writers declared the Cobra the winner and still undisputed heavyweight champion....Huh?  What about the first time when they ran both cars about ten times in practice runs and 10 out of 10 times the 'Vette was at least 4 tenths quicker-which in a drag race is 4 car lengths!!!???  How about a third meeting after letting the 'Vette guys resolve their clutch issues?  Like the reader said-he's reminded of what Jimmy Stewart told the reporter in the "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance".  "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."  People get caught up in this and will not listen to reason. A while back someone sent me a profanity-laced email saying I was a bald-faced liar because I said my RAIII '69 Judge had beaten my buddy's 440 Six-Pack Super Bee in a drag race and that my '73 Hurst / Olds "didn't have to take crap from little boys in "5.0" Mutangs.  Let me give you some details. My buddys Super Bee was bone-stock with a Torqueflite and 3.23:1 gears and G70-15 street tires. My GTO was a 4-speed and had 4.33:1 gears and N50-15 Mickey Thompson "Hot-n-Sticky" drag tires. Those things alone would give me the win, However-my car also had Hooker Headers, a hotter than stock Crane Cam, and an Offenhauser dual-quad intake with two Afbs's on it.  So yeah-I was lying when I said my pumped-up,4-speed, 4.33:1 geared GTO walked away from a bone-stock, automatic, 3.23:1 geared Super Bee. Damn! You caught me. As Wayne and Garth used to say "NOT!!!!"  As for the H / O, there were no road tests available for a '73 Hurst / Olds but I did find two on 1973 442's with the 455 / TH400 powertrain. High Performance cars ran a 14.65 in the 1/4 and Car Craft ran a 14.90. Now we all agree that the '87-93 Fuel Injected "5.0's" are the quickest ones. In researching road tests of various stock "5.0" models by various mags-Hot Rod was the quickest with a 14.72 and Motor Trend the slowest with a 15.29. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to do that math. Hmm...One car runs between 15.29 and 14.72,and the other runs between 14.90 and 14.65...Gee,which one is faster?  Before you start spewing hatred on someone because they said Car A beat Car B, make sure you have all the facts.  Mastermind              

60's and '70's Road Test Ringers re-visited......

Had some people ask about other magazine test gaffes or favoritism after the last posts. I've touched on them before, but I aim to please so here's my list of the biggest offenders. # 1. After more than 40 years Jim Wangers finally admitted what we all knew. Car and Driver's May 1964 GTO test car that ran a blistering 4.6 second 0-60 and a 13.1 second 1/4 mile time was a ringer. Royal Pontiac had pulled the 389 and replaced it with a hopped up 421. In addition to the extra cubes-the ringer had thin head gaskets to raise compression, rocker arm lock nuts and loosely adjusted valves to get another 500 rpm on the top,mechanical throttle linkage on the Tri-Power instead of the stock vacuum unit, the carbs were jetted richer and the distributor was re-curved for maximum performance. Showroom versions only ran in the low 14s-but man did that article sell a lot of cars-32,450 in the short '64 sales year-and another 75,000 in '65 and 96,000 in '66. GTO fever was so hot-That Chevrolet-with a dealer network twice the size of Pontiac's-could only sell 77,000 SS396 Chevelles that year.  # 2. 1969 440+6 Road Runner "Prototype". Car Life tested a "Prototype" 440 Six-Pak Road Runner that ran a string of very low 13 and very high 12 second e.t.s  Chrysler even used it in their ads. However the "Prototype" had been "Brought to the top of Specifications"-i.e. Blueprinted-and the carbs custom-jetted and the distributor custom-curved. And the car had 4.30 gears and slicks, and a pinion snubber. And the "Professional Driver" was Pro Stock Drag Racing Champion Ronnie Sox of  "Sox&Martin" fame. Small wonder that production examples were more than 1/2 a second slower!  # 3. 1973 SD-455 Trans-Am. This "Prototype" ran a blistering 13.75 for Car And Driver and and an even quicker 13.54 for Hot Rod. If you look at the pictures closely-you can see it's the same car-down to the Michigan liscence number!  The reasons I say it's a ringer are because the SD-455 wasn't released until April 1973 and this is why only 295 were built-252 in T/A's and another 43 in Formulas all with May or June production dates. The road tests were published in the May and June issues, but the actual tests were done in January. The car is a ringer because it had a 1972 aluminum RAIV / 455HO intake on it. Production SD-455s had an Iron Intake with an EGR valve on it. Part of the delay problem in getting the engine EPA certified was EGR valve function. Also-the prototype had the hot RAIV cam-which had 308 / 320 duration and .470 lift. ( With 1.5 rockers; RAIV's had .520 with 1.65 rockers ). It had trouble passing smog with this cam which was swapped for the much milder RAIII cam which had 301 / 313 duration and only .414 lift. Horsepower was down-rated from 310 to 290. This is why production examples could only run 14.30's. # 4. 1973 Olds 442. Motor Trend had a 1973 "Performance Car Preview". At this test a silver and red Cutlass 442 blew the doors off all comers which included an SD-455 Trans-Am, a 454 Corvette, a 440 Charger, a 401 / 4-speed Javelin AMX and a 351CJ Mustang Mach 1.  Olds engineers later admitted that the 455 in the car had the ultra-hot 328 duration "W30" cam, and the TH400 trans had a 2,800 rpm stall torque converter and a Hurst Shift kit installed, and the stock 2.73:1 gearing had been swapped for 3.42:1's! Production examples had none of those things.  Think that made a difference?  # 5. 1978 Dodge Li'l Red Express Pickup. In November 1977 Car and Driver had a "Double the Double Nickel" test-all cars which ran faster than 110 mph. The half-ton 2WD 360 V8 Dodge Pickup blew the doors off both an L82-4-speed Corvette and a WS6, W72 Trans-Am. How? This "Prototype" had Catalyst-free real dual exhausts, Nascar-style "W2" cylinder heads,the hot cam out of the legendary 340 "Six-Pack", an aluminum Holley "Street Dominator" intake manifold and a Holley 650 "Double-Pumper" carb. No surprise that production examples with stock heads,stock cam,and an Iron intake with a Carter Thermo-Quad were substantially slower!!.  It was all done in good fun and the interest of selling cars......Mastermind          

More skewed magazine results.....

Had some people ask about other magazine tests I didn't like besides the "Bandit vs General Lee."  It's not a matter of liking or not liking the results, it's a matter of objectivity. The numbers don't lie. So how is it that the car with best performance numbers doesn't win?  Because the magazine writers vote for their favorites no matter what. Car and Driver loves German cars. Anytime there's a comparo between American, Japanese, and German cars they always call the BMW, Mercedes, or Audi the winner. Even if the numbers don't bear this out. The worst was the article called "America's M3".  A base model Mustang GT which had 412 hp and cost $32,000 ran a faster lap time around Willow Springs Raceway than a $64,000 414 hp BMW M3. The 0-60 and 1/4 mile times were within 1/10 of a second and the braking distance was within 10 feet. Basically-the Mustang was equal to or better than the Bimmer in every performance category and cost half as much, yet they rated the BMW # 1!!!  Ditto for a "Supercar Shootout". Even though a Nissan GTR blew the doors off an Audi R8, a Corvette Z06, and a Porsche 911 Turbo in almost every category-the 911 had the shortest braking distance-they declared the R8 the winner. Car Craft was so bad that angry readers wrote in and said they should change the name to "Chevy Craft". For the same reason-they declared a Chevy the winner every time. In the early 90's they tested a '92 Mustang GT against a '92 Z/28. Even though the Mustang had a quicker 1/4 mile time, a higher top speed, and cost 3 grand less, they declared the Camaro the winner.  Their worst one was a "Crate Motor Shootout" a few years ago. They put up a 345 hp ZZ3 350 crate engine in a '69 Camaro with a 4-speed  against a 345 hp 302 Ford SVO crate engine in an '84 Mustang GT and a 360 hp Mopar Performance 360 in a Duster. The Duster blew the doors off both of them in the 1/4. The Mustang was the second fastest and the Camaro last. Not that the Camaro was slow-it ran something like a 12.85-but the Mustang ran a 12.47 and the Duster ran a blistering 12.11. They derided the Duster because it had a choppy idle!!!  Gee, guys a cam with .513 lift and 284 duration will do that! And were we not testing "Apples to Apples-that's why the hp ratings were so close-Ford offered a 351 with 385 hp and a 351-based 392 stroker with 450. Chevy offered a 383 with 425 hp and Mopar offered a 408 inch 360 based stroker with over 400. They were trying to keep it as fair and even as possible. Mopar guys had a right to be pissed. The Mustang was a gutted race car that weighed only 2,800 lbs and the Camaro had a 4-speed and 4.11:1 gears. The Duster had a Torqueflite and 3.55:1 gears and a full interior. And it still prevailed. Yet the CC writers all 3 said they liked the Camaro best. Like it all you want-but it was not the winner of this shootout!!!  Anyhow we all wish they'd be more objective. Like whatever cars you want-but when it gets beaten fair and square take it like a man, not like a kid with "Calvin" pissing on a Ford or Chevy emblem!!  Just had to vent that. Mastermind

General Lee vs the Bandit? How does that math work?

A while back I commented on a compact sport sedan comparo that was in Motor Trend or Car and Driver-I forget which. But I remember it because it pissed me off so badly. They compared a Subaru WRX,a VW Golf GTI, an SVT Ford Focus and a Honda Civic SI. The Subaru was the fastest 0-60, the fastest in the 1/4 mile,had the shortest stopping distance from 70 mph,and had the highest numbers on the skidpad, and the lowest price!  Yet they declared the VW the winner. Huh?  Why? Because it had more cupholders?  How in the hell, in a performance comparison does the car that won every single performance test finish second? Well, one of the buff mags has done it again. This one was the Bandit vs the General Lee. For those of you that have lived in a cave for the last 38 years the "Bandit" is a black '77 Trans-Am driven by Burt Reynolds in the classic car chase / comedy "Smokey and the Bandit" which out grossed everything but "Star Wars" back in '77. The General Lee is an Orange '69 Dodge Charger with a Confederate flag on the roof driven by John Schneider and Tom Wopat in the campy TV series "The Dukes of Hazzard".  ( There was also an awful movie with Johhny Knoxville and Sean William Scott, but real fans always think of the TV show. ) Anyhow they found a couple guys one with a Charger done up like General Lee and another with a well preserved Black and gold SE T/A and did the usual performance tests. With catalyst-free exhaust and 440 cubes it's a no-brainer to say that the Charger was quicker in a drag race than the smog-choked 400 inch Trans-Am. However-in every other performance category the "Bandit" stomped "The General". It had a way shorter 70-0 stopping distance,and the gap got larger as they tested because the Chargers 4-wheel drums faded badly and the T/A's front disc / rear drums didn't. The T/A smoked the Charger on the skidpad-staying remarkably composed and registering a blistering .82g while the Charger wallowed around like the Titanic and scored a dismal .67g-about the same as what an F250 Ford truck scores!!  In the slalom and a race up a curvy country road the Pontiac again left the Dodge in the dust because it cornered way better and braked way better, and the seats kept the driver firmly planted behind the wheel. The Charger driver complained that the flat smooth seats had him sliding out from behind the wheel during hard cornering so badly that he had to hang onto the door strap in left turns and hang onto the shifter for dear life in right turns. One of the writers pointed out that it would be pretty easy to add Horsepower to the Pontiac which would really make it an ass-whippin'. The other guy said-wrongly-that if the Charger had factory disc brakes it would have fared better. I say wrongly because in checking old magazine road tests a '77 T/A stopped from 60 mph in 144 feet, while a disc-braked '69 Charger took 207 feet. The Mopar fans said that you could by sway bars and subframe connectors and different springs and shocks to make the Charger a g-machine. That's true but if your comparing "Apples to Apples"-theirs tons of upgraded suspension parts for '70's Camaros and Firebirds as well. Either bone-stock or modified-like it or not-a '70's T/A is a much better performance car than a '60's Charger. That's simply because suspension and tire technology made huge advances in the intervening years. A 2015 Mustang GT will smoke a 1969 428 CJ in every performance category. 45 years of technology advances will do that!!  Anyway-even though the T/A bested the Charger in every single category except the drag race, these guys voted the Charger the winner. Really??  How does that math work?  I'd love to have a 1967 427 Stingray. But a 2015 Corvette will run off and leave it in any performance category.  Go ahead and love the old one-but don't say it's a better performer-the numbers don't lie!!  Anyhow, I just had to vent that.  Mastermind